Upon navigating to WhiteHouse.gov, the official website for the happenings and history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, users are met with a banner at the top of the page, “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government,” it reads, with an active timer tick-tick-ticking away, counting, to the second, how long the shutdown has been going on.
Of an estimated 1.4 million government workers, roughly half are considered essential workers, and are currently performing their jobs without pay, while the other half have been furloughed. The government isn’t working at capacity, and the executive branch would like you to know exactly who they’d like to blame.
Apparently, online trolling falls under the “essential” category, as a longstanding page about the White House grounds’ history was updated recently with renderings and statements about Donald Trump’s demolition and rebuild of the East Wing to make way for a very large ballroom, as well as a timeline of “major events” in the building’s history.
The events highlighted on the page make sense at first, beginning with George Washington selecting the future site of the White House in 1791, the 1814 burning of the building and subsequent rebuilding, and so on. It’s mostly porticos and additions from there, welcoming the Rose Garden and the Briefing Room to the party, until you scroll to 1998, when the definition of “major events” takes an abrupt turn in the first entry after Richard Nixon’s bowling alley addition in 1973.
“Bill Clinton Scandal: President Bill Clinton‘s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations,” the caption beneath an archival photo of Clinton and Lewinsky in the Oval Office reads. “The Oval Office trysts fueled impeachment for obstruction.”
The next entry takes us to 2012’s “Muslim Brotherhood Visit,” describing President Barack Obama (informally referred to only as “Obama”) hosting members of “a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas” and describes it as a terrorist organization.
Lest you think the timeline is all scandal, users next see a recap of the biggest, most memorable headline to come out of 2020. If you think that’s the Covid-19 pandemic, try again. Of course, it’s Melania Trump’s South Lawn tennis pavilion, which “unifies the tennis court, Children’s Garden, and Kitchen Garden, enhancing recreational opportunities for First Families.” If that’s not major, it’s hard to say what is.
